Decline In White Indentured Servitude example essay topic

Writing Assignment #1 Slavery vs. Indentured Servitude An individual can often wonder why slavery eclipsed indentured servitude. "Slavery, in spite of its seeming superiority, was actually not as advantageous as indentured labor, during the first half of the century. Indentured servants were roughly half the cost of a slave and with the high mortality rate of immigrants to Virginia, there could be no great advantage in owning a man for a lifetime rather than a period of years". (Morgan 297) They both provided a work force to produce cash crops. So how is it feasible that slavery became the choice of labor to over come indentured servitude? Due to racism, slavery eclipsed indentured servitude.

Virginia had been experiencing social problems with indentured servants, due to the fact that these servants became free after a period of years and could not become successful planters. "Up until the 1640's the labor force in Virginia was mainly composed of white servants. But as the conditions got harder, servants coming to the colony declined. And Overpopulation in England had ceased". (Morgan 298) So what caused the white servants to rebel? White men had "equal" rights.

Most of them (the ones who were not criminals, and mainly Christian) had the decision to come to America and sell a few years of their life. Due to their "rights" a rebellious nature came natural to them. Through these "rights" these servants had a goal to strive for in life. Slaves, on the other hand, did not have these same goals to strive for "If workers were enslaved they could be more easily controlled.

If they were African they could be severely exploited but with relatively little risk of rebellion. Excessive treatment of indentured servants risked interference from England, but the cruel treatment of African slaves brought no such fears". (Study Guide 38) To further protect and eventually cause a decline in white indentured servitude was the "guilty" feeling plantation owners felt about owning Christians. "Masters were reluctant to have their slaves become Christians. The prestige that went with being Christian instead of heathen could thus be reserved normally for the free and white". (Morgan 332) To more advance ly protect their "Christian" rights they often wrote laws such as, "In 1680 it was prescribed thirty lashes on the bare back if any Negro or other slave shall presume to lift up his hand in opposition against any Christian".

(Morgan 331) These "rights" and "laws" are a direct attempt to place the white man above all slaves and explain that "they" should be the masters and not the servants. "Slavery is a mode of compulsion that has often prevailed where land is abundant, and Virginians had been drifting toward it from the time when they first sound something profitable to work at". (Morgan 296) Slavery was brought to Virginia by choice. At first slavery was at a higher cost then indentured servants but later on "it became the more beneficial". (Morgan 299) To be "Christian" was to be right, as the colonist saw it, but once slaves figured that this was a ticket to a more free life the white man made it harder for slaves to become Christians. They "punished" slaves for becoming Christian "The same act that ordered the dismemberment of unruly slaves, cause slaves who turned Christians to forfeit any property or earnings, they had earned through special or extra work, to the church, which would then sell the property or earning (pigs, horses, cattle, clothes ext.) then give the earning to the poor whites.

This was highly effective for dissociating the two". (Morgan 333) With the perception of a free life, removed by the white man, slaves, in the eyes of a lazy, prejudice man, made the ultimate choice to exploit for work. The definition of racism "1. Prejudice or animosity against people who belong to other races. 2. The belief that people of different races have different qualities and abilities, and that some races are inherently superior or inferior (Webster 551)."As early as 1586 Englishmen who came to Virginia, of whatever class, learned their first lessons in racial hatred by putting down the Indians".

(Morgan 328) "The power of the gun" is an obvious advantage that allowed these Englishmen to come into an inhabited territory and make attempts to enslave its native people. During this same time frame racial segregation among whites and "slaves" was coming into effect "In 1682 the assembly eliminated the difference between Indian "servants" and African "slaves". Making slaves of all imported non-Christian servants. Since only Indians and Africans fitted this description this set the further development of slavery on a squarely racial foundation" (Morgan 329) This allowed for a clearly visible "color line" that was wanted from the beginning of slavery".

A problem for the Virginia colonists resulted from their sense of cultural superiority, particularly as it related to vaguely racist conceptions of the "genius" of the English people". (Breen and Innes 4) Slavery overcame indentured servitude due to the "smarts" of the Englishmen. With these smarts it allowed them to figure a "maximum output of labor" by exploiting a people, without exploiting their own "smart" race.

Bibliography

Breen, T.H. and Stephen Innes. Myne Owne Ground: Race and Freedom on Virginia's Eastern Shore, 1640-1676.1980.
New York: Oxford UP, 19.82 Morgan, Edmund S. American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia. 1975.
New York: W.W. Norton, 1995.
Chs. 15, 16, 18. Paid eia I Study Guide: Spring 2003.
Ed. Mark Z. Muggle. Decorah, IA: Luther College, 2003.
Webster Dictionary 1995.